The five repairs that decide whether your house is financeable

The roof

An appraiser is looking for remaining useful life, not beauty. Missing shingles, visible sagging, active leaks or daylight through the boards will be called out, and government-backed loans in particular expect a roof with meaningful life left in it.

This is the single most common reason a Syracuse sale collapses after inspection. Our winters are hard on roofs, and a roof that has been patched three times reads as a roof that needs replacing.

Heat that works

A permanent heat source that actually functions is a requirement, not a preference, and in Central New York that is not negotiable. A dead furnace, a disconnected boiler, or a house heated only by space heaters will fail.

If the property has been sitting empty through a winter with the heat off, assume there is a second problem behind the first one.

Water where it should be and nowhere else

Active leaks, standing water in the basement, a failed sump, or staining that suggests a recurring problem. Appraisers are trained to look for it and inspectors will find it.

Water is also the damage that compounds: it becomes rot, then mould, then framing. A cosmetic house with a wet basement is not a cosmetic house.

Electrical that is not a fire risk

Knob-and-tube wiring, an ungrounded panel, a fuse box feeding a modern load, exposed splices. Many insurers will not write a policy on knob-and-tube, and without insurance there is no mortgage.

Syracuse has a great deal of pre-war housing stock, so this comes up constantly in the older neighbourhoods.

Structure and what holds the house up

Foundation movement, a failing sill, a porch pulling away, floors that slope in a way that suggests something below has given up.

Structural questions are the ones that make lenders ask for an engineer's report, and that alone can add a month to a sale.

What this means if your house fails the list

You have three routes. Repair it and sell to a conventional buyer, which requires money up front and time. Sell to a renovation loan buyer, a smaller pool with a slower process. Or sell to a cash buyer, which is faster and lower.

There is no fourth option where a mortgage buyer pays retail for a house their lender will not fund. Recognising that early saves months.

General information about how these sales run in Onondaga County, not legal, tax or engineering advice.